The invention relates to an apparatus for producing an edible product, in particular a chocolate, from a filling encased in a coating, pumps with pump rams in a pump chamber being provided for feeding substances of the edible product in a metered manner to nozzles.
Chocolates comprise, for example, a chocolate coating and any desired filling and, nowadays, are industrially produced automatically using so-called one-shot technology. In this method, the chocolate is introduced into a mold through a single nozzle, for example through an annular channel, and a filling is introduced simultaneously through an axial bore, the filling forcing the chocolate coating against the mold wall. A closed-up chocolate comprising a coating with filling is thus produced by a single xe2x80x9cshotxe2x80x9d.
The appropriate substances for the coating and the filling are brought to the nozzles by means of pumps, one pump being assigned to each nozzle on a nozzle bar. These series of pumps are, in turn, connected to a single displacement bar, with the result that the displacement movement of the pump rams is produced by the movement of the displacement bar. Rotary elements are also seated in the displacement bar, and these can rotate the pump ram through 180xc2x0 in each case.
An apparatus of the type mentioned above is known, for example, from DE 297 06 282 U1. With the arrangement of a multiplicity of pumps one beside the other presented in this document, it has been found that the pumps take up a very large amount of space, with the result that the carriers of the pumps thus also have a considerable weight. Such apparatuses are also known from U.S. Pat. No. 2,195,441 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,771,225.
The object of the present invention, while maintaining the necessary internal diameter of the pump chamber, is to reduce the overall size of the pump arrangement to a considerable extent and thus to cut down on weight and space.
This object is achieved in that at least two pump chambers are arranged one above the other, and are arranged in an offset manner in relation to one another such that a spacing between the vertical planes through the two center axes of the pump chambers is smaller than the sum of the two radii of the pump chambers.
This arrangement of the pump chambers one above the other allows the overlapping of the pump chambers in the vertical plane, with the result that it is possible to reduce the entire pump-housing width, and the overall size of the pumps arranged one beside the other, as a whole, is thus reduced to a considerable extent.
It lies within the scope of the invention also for a plurality of pump chambers to be arranged in a vertically offset manner in relation to one another in a pump housing. In practice, however, a group of two pump chambers has been found to be favorable since this gives greater flexibility for use of the pumps. For example, it is possible for groups of two to be brought out of operation without this adversely affecting the functioning of other adjacent groups of two.
The smallest overall width would be achieved when the pump chambers are located directly vertically one above the other. In this case, however, it is necessary for the substance to be guided from a feed hopper to the nozzles via at least one curved channel, which could possibly be problematic.
It is thus provided within the scope of the invention that the pump chambers are not only arranged in a vertically offset manner, but are also arranged such that they are offset horizontally in relation to one another. In this case, however, in order that the overall size can be kept as small as possible, a spacing between the vertical planes through the two center axes of the pump chambers should be smaller than the sum of the two radii of the pump chambers. The arrangement should be selected such that the two outlet openings lead vertically downward one beside the other. The idea of the invention, however, should cover any arrangement.
It is further preferably provided that the adjacent pump rams in a pump housing may be made to rotate jointly by a drive element. If there are two pump rams, each pump ram has, for example, a gearwheel, the two gearwheels engaging one inside the other. It is sufficient then for one gearwheel to have a rack acting on it.
Overall, it is provided that mutually opposite pump housings are arranged on a carrier, on which the nozzles or a corresponding nozzle bar are/is also secured. For force-distribution reasons, it has proven advisable if the mutually opposite pump chambers are likewise arranged in a vertical offset manner.